Wall construction



March 24, 1970 s. ABEL- 3,501,885

WALL CONSTRUCTION original Filed Feb. 2s, 19e? WE/vra@ l2-impr ,4551.

7' faQ/VE V5 United States Patent O 3,501,885 WALL CONSTRUCTION Stewart Abel, 11007 Vivian Drive NW., Huntsville, Ala. 35810 Continuation of application Ser. No. 620,207, Feb. 23, 1967. This application Nov. 25, 1968, Ser. No. 778,867 Int. Cl. E04b 2/60 U.S. Cl. 52-410 7 Claims ABSTRACT lF THE DISCLOSURE Wall construction for a building wherein a plurality of upwardly extending I-beams are disposed in parallel disposition, a plurality of laterally extending bridging beams are attached to the outer surface of the I-beams, insulation material is attached to the outer surfaces of the plurality of bridging beams and extends between the bridging beams, and steel siding is attached to the bridging beams, through the insulation material. A plurality of upwardly extending furring strips are attached to the inside surface of the bridging beams and wallboards are attached to the furring stinps in such a manner that they overlap the outside anges of the I-beams and leave the inside flanges and a portion of the web of each I-beam exposed to the interior of the building.

This application is a continuation of applic-ation No. 620,207 tiled Feb. 23, 1967, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the construction of buildings, it has become customary to place the vertical support members of the building inside the exterior walls of the building so as to leave the interior of the building free of any vertical supports. Also, the exterior wall of the building is utilized, wherever possible, to house ducting for heating and ventilation, plumbing, and electrical lines. Moreover, it is desirable to construct the exterior walls of the building with a minimum thickness so as to provide maximum space between the inside surfaces of exterior walls and so the walls do not require excessive amounts of building material.

Recently, there has been an increased demand for buildings which can be assembled in a short time with the use of a minimum amount of skilled labor. While building time and labor costs are of primary consideration in the construction of these buildings, it is also desirable to construct the buildings with the primary vertical supports l0- cated in their exterior walls, as explained above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention comprises wall construction utilized primarily in the construction of buildings wherein upwardly extending I-beams form the vertical supports of the building and are positioned so as to be located in the exterior wall of the building. Horizontally extending beams, such as channel beams, are connected to the exterior surface of the I-beams, and bridge the gaps between the I-bearns so as to rigidly connect the I-beams to one another. Insulation material, such as insulation blankets or backing, is connected to the outside surface of the horizontally extending beams, to form the external surface of the building. Upwardly extending furring strips may be connected to the inside surface of the horizontally extending beams. The furring strips may be of a thickness approximately equal to the end flanges of the I-beams, and wallboard or like finishing material is connected to the furring strips, overlapping the inside flanges of the I-beams or the furring strips may be of a thickness approximately equal to the I-beams, and the wallboard or like finishing material is connected to the furring strips overlapping the I-beams.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide 3,501,885 Patented Mar. 24,1970

ICC

Wall construction for buildings that is inexpensive and expediently assembled.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wall construction for a building that properly insulates the building and provides internal spaces for conduits, plumbing and electrical wiring.

Another object of this invention is to provide wall construction for buildings wherein the majority of the upwardly extending support beams are exposed to the interior or exterior portion of the building while the majority of the remaining portion of the wall structure is displaced outwardly or inwardly of the support beams.

Another object of this invention is to provide wall construction for buildings wherein the majority of the surface of the upwardly extending support beams is exposed to the interior of the building and the surface of the exterior walls facing the interior of the build-ing is attractive.

Another object of this invention is to provide wall construction for buildings wherein the majority of the surface of the upwardly extending support beams is exposed to the exterior of the building and the interior surface of the wall is continuous.

Another object of this invention is to provide wall construction for buildings that is eye appealing, simple in construction, expedient and economical to assemble, and requires a minium amount of building materials.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become Iapparent upon reading the following disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. l is a perspective view of the wall construction, with parts broken away.

FIG. 2 is a side, elevational view, taken in cross section, of the wall construction.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the wall construction, taken in cross section.

FIG. 4 is a top plan View, similar to FIG. 3, but showing a modified form of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view, similar to FIGS. 3 and 4, but showing a modified form of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Referring now more particularly to the drawing, in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 shows a wall construction 10 supported by a foundation 11. The foundation 11 may vary in configuration, at the option of the builder, but may comprise a concrete base as shown in FIG. 1 which may be utilized as the floor surface of the building, Another arrangement is shown in FIG. 2 wherein the wall construction 10 is mounted on concrete pilings 11a.

A plurality of metal structural members such as I- beams 12 extend upwardly from foundation 11 and comprise central web portions 14, exterior flanges 15 and interior flanges 16. The I-beams 12 are arranged so that their exterior anges 15 face the outside of the building and present exterior surfaces 18 to the outside and interior surface 17 on each side of their web portions 14 while the interior flanges 16 present interior surfaces 19 to the inside of the building.

Horizontally extending metal structural members such a channel beams 20 are connected to the I-beams 12 at vertically spaced intervals to form a bridging between the adjacent I-beams. Channel beams 20v each comprise a base portion 21, exterior leg 22, and interior leg 23. EX- terior leg 22 defines an exterior surface 24 (FIG. 2) facing the outside of the building and interior leg 23 denes an interior surface 25 facing the inside of the building. Channel beams 20 are connected to the exterior anges 15 of the I-beams 12 in any conventional manner, as by bolting, riveting, welding or clamping. Thus, I-beams 12 and channel beams 20 form a rigid connection with one another to form the frame of the building structure.

Upwardly extending furring strips 26 are connected to channel beams 20 by means of conventional connecting means, such as rivets 28 or flexible tying members 29. Furring strips 26 are of a thickness approximately equal to the thickness of exterior flanges of I-beams 12 so that the interior surfaces 30 of furring strips 26 are generally coextensive with the interior surfaces 17 of exterior flanges 15.

Wallboard 31 is connected to the interior surfaces 30 of furring strips 26 by means of nails 32 or other conventional connecting means. Wallboard 31 is connected to furring strips 26 in such a manner that the ends 34 of the wallboard extend over the interior surfaces 17 of the exterior llanges 15 so as to abut the central web portion 14 of the I-beams 12.

Insulation 35 in the form of strips or blankets is connected to the exterior surface 24 of the horizontally extending channel beams by means of adhesive or other conventional connecting means. Insulation 35 generally extends the entire length and height of the wall construction 10, and steel siding 36 is placed over insulation 35 and connected to the external legs 22 of channel beams 20 by rivets, or other conventional connecting means. Steel siding 36 generally extends the entire length and height of wall construction 10 and forms the exterior surface of the wall.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, it can be seen that insulation 35, channel beams 20 and wallboard 31 form a plurality of horizontally extending spaces 40. Spaces 40 can communicate with one another through the spaces 41 (FIG. l) defined by the interior surface 25 of channel beams 20, the sides of furring strips 26 and the outside surface of wallboard 31. Of course, if it is desired to prevent spaces 40 from communicating with one another, spaces 41 may be blocked by connecting a horizontally extending furring strip (not shown) between furring strips 26 in spaces 41 of a thickness equal to furring strips 26. With this arrangement, grills may be inserted at various points in wallboard 31 and spaces 40 may be utilized as ducts for channeling air, as in heating or air conditioning the interior of the building. While horizontally extending spaces 40 may be utilized in and of themselves as ducting for air 'llow through the walls of the building it will be readily understood that conventional ducting (not shown) may be placed within spaces 40.

Spaces 40 may also be utilized to house electrical wiring and pipes for plumbing. While the majority of the electrical wiring for the building may be extended through spaces 41 when extending in a vertical direction, the bulky electrical wiring conduits and plumbing pipes for the building may extend within the wall construction 10 by boring holes through the base portion 21 of channel beams 20.

FIG. 4 shows a modified form of the wall construction wherein upwardly extending furring strips 26a are of a thickness less than that of the exterior ilanges 15 of I- beams 12 and wallboard 31a extends between the edges of exterior ilanges 15 of adjacent I-beams 12. In this manner, wallboard 26a is coextensive with the interior surfaces 17 of exterior flanges 15 of the I-beams thereby requiring a smaller amount of wallboard and thinner strips.

FIG. 5 shows another form of the invention wherein furring strips 26 and 26a are omitted from the construction. In this instance, wallboard 31b is directly connected to the interior leg 23 of channel beams 20 and may be of a thickness substantially equal to the thickness of the exterior anges 15 of beams 12 so that wallboard 31b forms a continuous surface with the interior surfaces 17 of exterior ilanges 15.

Referring to FIG. 2, it can be seen that the oor construction of the building comprises horizontally extending I the vertically extending support members, it should be understood that other type beams may be substituted therefor, if appropriate. For instance, T-shaped beams might be substituted for I-beams 12 in such a manner that the web portion of the T-shaped beams would extend inv wardly of the building while the head portion of the beam would form the exterior flange to which channel beams 20 could be attached. Moreover, while I-beams 12 have een shown with conventional proportions, it is well within the scope of this invention to use I-beams that have shortened central web portions 14 so that the interior flange 16 of the beam will extend only a short distance into the interior portion of the building. Furthermore, wallboard 31 may be of a thick variety to substantially ll the space between the exterior flange 15 and interior flange 16 of I-beams 12.

While in some instance, it may be desirable to substantially fill the gaps or spaces between the exterior ilanges 15 and interior flanges 16 of I-beams 12, occasionally these spaces may be utilized for connection of other portions of the building construction to the I-beams. For instance, internal walls of the building may be connected to I-beams 12 by clamps or similar attachig means, by clamping portions of the internal walls about the interior ilanges 16 of the I-beams 12.

At this point, it should be obvious that the Wall construction herein disclosed may be easily erected with the use of a minimum amount of skilled labor. The small number of building elements required to construct the wall is such that the Workmen do not have to handle a large number of different types of building materials and the builder need only stock the few basic components required in such a structure. The simplicity of construction enables the workmen to work to a high rate of speed and the stock of different typesof materials is held to a minimum.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations may be made in the embodiments chosen for the purpose of illustrating the present invention without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Wall construction comprising a plurality of laterally spaced upwardly extending I- beams having end flanges and central webs;

a plurality of upwardly spaced laterally extending bridging beams connected to one of the end flanges of each of said I-beams and extending between adjacent I-bearns;

siding material disposed outwardly of and extending between said bridging beams;

upwardly extending furring strips connected to and extending between the inside surfaces of said bridging beams;

wallboard connected to the inside surface of said furring strips and extending therebetween, said wallboard abutting said I-beams.

2. A wall construction comprising:

a plurality of laterally spaced upwardly extending I- beams having end flanges and central webs;

a plurality of upwardly spaced laterally extending bridging beams connected to one of the end ilanges of each of said I-beams and extending between adjacent I-beams; V

insulation extending between said bridging beams and disposed outwardly of said bridging beams;

siding material disposed outwardly of said insulation and extending between said bridging beams;

wallboard connected to the inside surface of said bridging beams and extending therebetween, said wallboard abutting said I-beams; and

upwardly extending furring strips connected to and extending between the surfaces of said bridging beams, said wallboard being connected to said furring strips.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said Wallboard abust the central webs of said I-beams.

4. The invention of claim 2 wherein said wallboard abuts the edges of said one of the end anges of each of said I-beams.

5. The invention of claim 2 wherein said laterally extending bridging beams, insulation material and Wallboard define substantially closed laterally extending conduits.

6. Wall construction comprising a plurality of laterally spaced upwardly extending I- beams having end flanges and central Webs;

a plurality of upwardly spaced laterally extending bridging beams connected to one of the end flanges of each of said I-beanis and extending between adjacent I-beams;

insulation extending between said bridging beams and dis- 25 posed outwardly of said bridging beams;

siding material disposed outwardly of said insulation and extending between said bridging beams;

upwardly extending furring strips connected to and extending between the inside surfaces of said bridging beams;

wnllboard connected to the inside surface of said furring strips and extending therebetween, said wallboard abutting said I-beams.

7. The invention of claim 6 wherein said wallboard connected to the inside surface of said furring strips and extending therebetween, said wallboard extends beyond the inner llanges of each of said I-beams.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,222,832 l2/l965 Presunka 52-495 X 3,283,693 11/1966 Howell 98-31 3,338,013 8/1967 Graham 52-407 X FOREIGN PATENTS 895,555 1962 Great Britain.

JOHN E. MURTAGH, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 52-481, 495 

